Brad sat out on the front porch, breathing in the cool night air on this unusually warm spring night, smiling to himself about the way things had turned out. The day he’d received the news in Keith’s office flooded him with sweet, overwhelming relief. To have Crystal gone and out of their lives was like a black, tension-filled, cloud dissipated. Even the sunshine seemed to beam brighter around them. Crystal had left town right after signing the papers, leaving instructions for the rest of her belongings to be sent to a condo in Seattle.
Keith filed the papers that day. He pulled strings to have a judge sign the divorce decree a few days later. Thirty-one days and Brad would be a free man.
For the first time in his life, he felt as if he was living with his eyes wide open. “You know, Dad,
